Kirk Rafferty ✨is editing✨ 📖

This has been a long and incredible journey, and today it finally became real. I owe so much to this #WritingCommunity. I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I am to make this announcement! Thank you all for helping make this journey all the more special. @crookedlanebooks.bsky.social

Australia announcing legislation to allow AI companies to use authors' works without licensing, to allow for the training of LLMs. Sign the petition here: authorsguild.org/news/austral...

<grumpy=on> I cannot stress this enough: if your only intention of following me is to sell me your services in DM the moment I follow you back...kindly fuck right off, please. I'm not here to be pitched at. <grumpy=off>

I say this as a person whose actual job is as a technical writer: maybe stop using AI to write your documents. Nobody wants to read that garbage, and AI gets it wrong all the time. Take pride in your work as a technical writer. Write it yourself, warts and all. You'll be a better writer for it.

And just like that, I became a left-wing transgender witch

One of those Scottish castles you see advertised for something cheap like a million dollars that sits on the middle of an island with no power or utilities. Then I'll spend whatever of the rest of the money to run internet and solar panels and spend my life being a laird. If I'm lucky, it's haunted.

Of all the problems in publishing, perhaps the biggest problem is that they're not showing up at my house to get my novel, publish it, and make me rich and famous. #WritingCommunity

Found this over on Threads. Yet another scam "agency," Chapter House Literary. Querying writers, always research who you're submitting your work to. #QueryTrenches #amquerying #WritingCommunity

Why is it always, "Clearly you just didn't understand." We understand. We understand just fine. We can read, we can comprehend, and your message was very clear. Writers and creative organizations must stand against AI without exception. AI is not inevitable. #WritingCommunity

Hey @societyofauthors.bsky.social, you might want to take notes.

The launch date for THE COSMONAUT has been pushed back a few months, so I won't be able to reveal the cover next week. Disappointing but also just part of the very long road from idea to shelf. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive. I can’t wait for you to read it! #BookSky #ReadingCommunity

People like this guy are exactly why we need taxpayer-funded libraries. #WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity

Somehow, The Society of Authors did not get the message that we do not bend the knee. We either fight the intrusion of GenAI into the artistic space with tooth and nail, or we lose everything. There is no compromise, no middle ground. #WritingCommunity #BookSky #ReadingCommunity

Six days until THE COSMONAUT’s cover is declassified! (You can signup for my Low-Traffomatic™ newsletter for an early peek, though, at kirkrafferty.com) Stranded behind enemy lines, Soviet cosmonaut Vika Rusanova flees with two orphaned siblings and must choose between country and found family.

AI may cure cancer someday, but nothing will ever cure stupidity

How I arrived on Bluesky. (artist's rendition)

0.25 is the new 1, but 5 is still the same 5. The new Goodreads system skews towards hate. #ReadingCommunity #WritingCommunity

You guys! 👋👋💥💥📕📕📕 I just got the final cover design, and I cannot wait to share this with you! It's gorgeous! THE COSMONAUT hits shelves summer 2027! Head over to my website, sign up for my low-traffic newsletter, and you'll get to see it first! kirkrafferty.com #ReadingCommunity #WritingCommunity

New Bad Lit Friends is up!!!! 💥💥💥 That's it. That's the post. #WritingCommunity #podcasts #WriteSky

Pangram is a sponsor of the AALA conference. I have so many thoughts on this, none of which are safe for work. But I don't know how much clearer it can be that Pangram is a direct threat to authors, agents, and the entire publishing industry. AALA just invited them in. #WritingCommunity #agents

Pangram is AI astrology for $20/month. #WritingCommunity

Them: So, you're a writer? Me: Oh, we're gonna fight, huh? #WritingCommunity

I was once on the Scam Author Accounts Bluesky list, and it did not help with my imposter syndrome. #WritingCommunity

The AALA is just wrong on this. While I believe the majority of agents will act ethically, the worst McAgents will monetize existing clients and non-clients with wink-wink-nudge-nudges pay-to-play tactics. AALA have really screwed up this time, and it's going to hurt both writers and legit agents.

This is a silly "movie poster" I made for #unhingedpit back in the bad place. (RIP 🐦) After so long, my novel is finally being published, available in bookstores and the other usual places summer 2027!!!! You can read more about THE COSMONAUT at my website, kirkrafferty.com #booksky #books

It's weird to say that my book is a love letter to the Cold War, because, having lived through part of it, it was terrifying. But in storytelling terms, it's fertile ground: stories of love, adventure, espionage, and humanity. It's a great playground for a writer. #Booksky #Books #WritingCommunity

We record these weekly, so I can't quite remember but I think this is the one where I'm the nice one. Anyway, go listen! We are ridiculously unqualified to service commercial airplanes, but slightly more qualified to host a podcast about writing! #WritingCommunity #amquerying #podcasts #BookSky

(stolen from Threads) Can confirm. My wife is fascinated that I thought this would work. (although she kept the cheese, so)

It finally happened. I've been accused of using AI. I guess I'm a real author now. #WritingCommunity

"Hey Kirk, how's your writing going?"

This is so real. #WritingCommunity

I love when agents do this. I've talked about this before, how agents could make both theirs and #amquerying writers lives easier by closing when they've hit a manageable number of queries. I think it's a great solution for everyone. 🔥

Who are my other #Colorado authors, and what are you working on? My historical Cold War thriller THE COSMONAUT comes out summer 2027, and our great state makes a pivotal appearance. Tell me what you're working on! (Also, let's go gitem tonight, Broncos! 🐴) #WritingCommunity

My @badlitfriends.bsky.social co-host! Go forth and give Likes! She is braver than me, I do not want to be held accountable for anything, let alone #writing. #WritingCommunity

Chonk patiently tolerating minute 42 of me explaining the plot of my new novel, revising on the fly, explaining the thematic subplots, and then side trekking into another character’s backstory because this will be important in about ten minutes when we get to act 2… #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

The trend of apps replacing the "No" button with a "Maybe later" button fills me with the rage of a thousand smaller things that also experience rage

You can't memory-hole what never actually happened. Nobody ever considered blogs, podcasts, and (wtf) Wikipedia as slop. Blogs and independent chat boards, especially, were a golden age of the internet. Fight me.

Here's a little thing I worked on this weekend. I've got a newsletter at kirkrafferty.com where you'll see the cover reveal first. plus updates as ARCs and pre-release gets closer! #WritingCommunity #BookSky #ReadingCommunity #thriller #historicalfiction

My #amquerying journey in a nutshell. I started in July 2022. These QT graphs reflect 292 queries, but there's probably about 50-60 pre-QT emailed queries I didn't track here. Final results: two agents, one publishing deal. Keep querying until you run out of agents or steam. #WritingCommunity

For once, it wasn't my fault! New BLF next week though, and it's gonna be a good one! I guess! We haven't recorded it yet! Why am I exclamating! Is that a word!

Brilliant marketing idea: Werthers flavored fruit rollups #BookSky

Protonmail absolutely killing me. The one time I have a deadline to get an email out, and it's the one time they're down.

@thecrumpet.bsky.social and I are recording the @badlitfriends.bsky.social podcast and everything technical that can go wrong is going wrong, and that's still nothing compared to Johnny Depp's A Christmas Carrol where, I guess, Scrooge is redeemed wtaf

But seriously, go to hell Google

The “you use AI if you use a smartphone” argument is so worn out and has been addressed and debunked ad nauseam. It's such a lazy and ignorant argument. The image being used to defend AI, below, was generated by stealing from actual artists. But somehow I'm the hypocrite. #WritingCommunity

The highlight of my week is recording this podcast so I can spend 2 hours getting super angry at dumb bookish takes. WE HAVE FUN! #podcasts #WritingCommunity #BookSky